LONDON: The legendary Geoff Boycott said England batsmen’s failure to negate left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav was one of the main reasons behind the team’s thumping defeat against India in the recent Test series.

England started the five-match series with a win at Hyderabad but it went progressively worse for them and lost the rubber 1-4 as Kuldeep walked away with 19 wickets from four games.

“I was amazed how many of them could not read the wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav and by the end of the series were still no wiser. A bowler can be a mystery to you the first couple of times you have to face him.

“But at international level, batsmen should be able to find a way to work him out. Too many never looked comfortable against him and were reduced to staying back and trying to play him off the pitch,” wrote Boycott in his column in The Telegraph.

Boycott was also critical of the overtly aggressive approach of England batters in the series.

“They (English batters) were not confident of their ability to defend, especially with fielders around the bat, so they looked to attack instead. That idea is fraught with danger against quality spinners,” he detailed.